British Rowing Masters Championships: Close racing and community spirit
Sunday’s racing was exemplified by razor thin margins and plenty of smiles as clubs took to the water for the second day of the British Rowing Masters Championships
Credit: British Rowing
For Chris Leonard and Simon Mepham of Walton RC, that meant four golds for each of them, with Chris bringing home a further bronze medal.
“It’s been a big weekend! I’ve done ten 1000m races, which means yesterday I rowed about 28km – today it’ll be another 20km. But I feel good! We’ve got a superb club with a superb vibe. We always feels like the underdog.”
Chris first raced at the British Rowing Masters Championships in 2010. “I actually raced in a pair with a guy I’ve just beaten. Masters rowing is quite special as you have a lot of people you’ve passed again and again in racing. You go through life’s journey and a lot of support comes with it. I think British masters rowing is growing from strength to strength.”
Credit: British Rowing
Last year Simon brought home two silver and two gold medals. Speaking on this year’s improvement, he said: “Last year we were in a Men’s Quad, this year we were in a Mixed Quad. So we had two very strong female rowers – that made the difference. It’s great that the programme allows you to do multiple races – it makes sense to do them!”
Whilst Mixed Eights raced for the first time at the World Rowing Cup in Varese, Louise Townrow of Nottingham RC was racing on home water and winning gold in a Mixed E Eight. “We hadn’t been out in that crew before, but we just gelled from the very beginning, we had a brand new cox in Laura Brittin and she was awesome. We were neck and neck whole way down, but had an absolute epic push at 250m, then kept pushing and pushing until we came across the line first.”
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Louise was also volunteering as Welfare Officer for the event. “Racing doesn’t happen without volunteers. Even if you can just give half an hour, it helps – I like supporting where I can. What I like best is that you’ll never be made to feel bad if you have to switch out of your post to race. Racing and volunteering is really supported and the committee have been so understanding.”
Less than half an hour into the start of racing the Heats of the Open D Eights barrelled down the course, with milliseconds separating the top crews and deciding who progressed through to the final. It was Kingston RC who took the gold, with Minerva Bath RC pushing through across the line to take silver and Ireland’s Portora BC taking bronze.
“Over 1000m, only 0.3 seconds difference between the medals is insane.” Said Kingston’s Tom Wheeton.
“Our cox Maggie called 250m at the 300m, that’s what did it.” Ed Haddon from Minerva Bath RC joked.
Credit: British Rowing
Portora BC finished in bronze, but took gold in the Open E Eights later that day. Blythe Crawford greeted his brother Simon on the medal pontoon, facetiming his extended family so they could share in the moment. “I only live an hour away now, so it was fantastic to see them win. The coach and I also used to row together, we haven’t seen each other for 30 years. This meant an awful lot. There will be a lot of fun had on the ferry on the way home.”
Exciting racing was had in the Intermediate events as well as the Championship races. In the Women’s 50+ Coxless Quadruple Sculls, Kirsten Melin was thrilled to take the medal.
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“We are really chuffed. We came with imposter syndrome, we thought it was going to be beyond us and really we came to learn. But we’ve absolutely loved being at this competition, everyone is super friendly. We’re ready for the World Rowing Championships in September now!”
Speaking on the weekend, Organising Committee Chair Christopher Anton said: “Thank you to all of the crews from all over the country who have put up with blustery conditions at this year’s Championships. We’ve seen some great racing, with some medals being decided by a 100th of a second or less. A big thank you has to go out to the over 100 volunteers who helped run the event this weekend – we couldn’t have done it without you.”
See the full list of results and find your racing photos from AllMarkOne here
